Settle Down Inside My Love
by Journey to Moonpool
Summary: A BrambleclawxSquirrelflight oneshot. Squirrelflight learns something about Brambleclaw and can't control her feelings any longer. Please R&R. Disclaimer: I do not own the Warriors series or any of its contents. Song Lyrics by Counting Crows.


_So she said what's the problem baby?_

_What's the problem I don't know_

_Well maybe I'm in love (love)_

_Think about it every time_

_I think about it_

_Can't stop thinking 'bout it_

Nothing beats hunting by the light of the moon. However, on this particular night, there was no moon. It was the night after the full moon… the Gathering. Bitter still from thinking about Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw, I shoved my way through the brambles and out into the midnight air. Ashfur had requested to come with me; I had politely told him no. However handsome and protective he might have been, Ashfur didn't understand me one bit. The only tom that truly understood me was Brambleclaw. I spat at the thought of his name. How could he have done this? We had gotten so close, he had trusted me, and I had trusted him. I thought he loved me. I thought he-

My neck fur stood on end. A strange sound came from a small thicket two foxlengths away. Approaching cautiously, I heard the noise again. A sniffle. Crying? Peering into the thicket, the object of my disgust came into clear view. The handsome dark tabby with warm amber eyes.

_How much longer will it take to cure this?_

_Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love (love)_

_Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love_

Those amber eyes were now tear-streaked, pure devastation clouding them. _Probably upset because he didn't get to mentor Birchpaw, _I thought haughtily. I started to retreat when I heard him muttering to himself.

"Starclan… just take me. Please. It will be so much easier. I won't have to deal with this. Starclan, I'm begging you." I sneered. _What, you are afraid that if you stay in Skyclan you'll be humiliated to death? Face it, Brambleclaw, you'll never be deputy. Firestar's smarter than that. _

I must've said that out loud, because Brambleclaw turned and faced me. I expected his eyes to flare with anger, as they had so many times in the past. Everything I did seemed to anger him. But this time, I couldn't read his expression. The silence was killing me.

_So I said I'm a snowball running_

_Running down into the spring that's coming all this love_

_Melting under blue skies_

_Belting out sunlight_

_Shimmering love_

"What do you think you're doing here at this time of night?" I demanded, making my voice as cold as possible. I felt a speck shame when Brambleclaw shuffled his paws, embarrassed. He seemed like he wanted to say something.

"I'll just leave now," I continued. "I'll let you _plot_ in peace." I turned around abruptly.

"Wait!" _Huh? _I turned back to face him. He now stood, but didn't come any closer. Just stared at me with watery eyes.

"What?" I asked impatiently.

"Don't go," he pleaded. "I need to talk to you."

"No, actually, I'm not interested in helping you and Hawkfrost become powerful, thanks." I was shocked at my own spite.

Another tear rolled down Brambleclaw's cheek. "_Please_." I quietly sat down, keeping my distance. Brambleclaw looked into my eyes for a moment before clearing his throat.

"You have the right to not trust me."

"Oh really?" I asked, my voice dripping in sarcasm. He blinked. I could tell that he was in a lot of pain, but I refused to acknowledge it. He had broken my heart. Not only did I have the right to not trust him. I had the right to _hurt _him.

_Well baby I surrender_

_To the strawberry ice cream_

_Never ever end of all this love_

_Well I didn't mean to do it_

_But there's no escaping your love_

"I want you to know that it's very hard for me. I don't want to listen to Tigerstar… or Hawkfrost, for that matter," he said softly, looking deep into my eyes.

"Why should I believe you?" I snapped, returning a forceful glare.

"I know that it seems I've been planning to overthrow Firestar, or help Hawkfrost overthrow Leopardstar. At first, all I wanted was to please." He paused, expecting me to argue. To my own astonishment, I didn't. "However, I could see that I was losing you. Other cats, too. My own clanmates were whispering about me behind my back, saying that I was just like my father. I thought they were wrong. But I was. All I want is to be the best warrior I can be, Squirrelflight." He said my name with such tenderness. "I don't know what to do. You've got to help me."

"With what?" I asked, trying to avoid his eyes.

"Tigerstar is a very powerful cat, Squirrelflight. Surely you know that. I should've never gotten involv- "

"Tigerstar's _dead_," I said, cutting him off.

"That doesn't make him weak," Brambleclaw murmured, looking around as if any moment, Tigerstar would come out from hiding and attack. "Hawkfrost lives on in him. He's truly Tigerstar's son. Tigerstar's told me that I have to be more like him. Hang around him more. And of course, Hawkfrost has followers. Just like Tigerstar did."

I couldn't speak. It was too much to take in at once.

"Will you help me?" I looked away. Why was I doing this? He had broken my heart. He had broken my heart. I repeated it to myself. He had broken my heart.

_These lines of lightning_

_Mean we're never alone,_

_Never alone, no, no_

When I turned back to face him, he had moved closer. His face was a mouselength from mine. My nose was flooded with his warm scent. I fell headlong into his amber eyes, wanting to be even closer to him.

"That look on your face," I heard myself saying. "When Ashfur became Birchpaw's mentor." I was swimming in the swirling yellowish-brown pools.

"I had hoped to finally get an apprentice, to… to… to impress you," I heard him saying. The warm, amber liquid was up to my neck. But I wasn't afraid of drowning.

_Come on, Come on_

_Move a little closer_

_Come on, Come on_

_I want to hear you whisper_

_Come on, Come on_

_Settle down inside my love_

Words came that I thought would never come. Not now, at least. Not when he hated me so much… hadn't he made that clear? Hadn't I accepted that, moved on? "I love you," Brambleclaw whispered in my ear. I was back, standing in front of the tom that I had always loved, all along. He looked at me, expectantly. Lovingly.

"I love you too…" I purred. "… I always have."


End file.
